Confessions
by dulce.de.leche.go
Summary: A simple birthday dinner turns into a somewhat less simple confession between a couple that changes their arrangement together forever. Rated M for language and some sexual references (non-explicit). Established relationship from the universe of my currently in-progress story "Strange Love".


**Disclaimer: **The characters herein and the Harry Potter universe are all property of J.K. Rowling. I claim no ownership over either of these things and make no profit from any of this, it's all just imagined for fun with no ill intent. Thank you, and goodnight!

**A/N:** Just a short one-shot while I work on formatting my multichapter story to begin posting that in the next week or so. A bit fluffy this one, not my typical cup of tea but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Edit made thanks to** kyutiepie** for a really blatant error that I didn't catch! That's what you get for writing at 1am without proofing folks. :)

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Low candlelight, soothing, romantic music, dinner with his beautiful wife – everything was right with the world these days. So why didn't it feel like it? The feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach was becoming more and more difficult to ignore as the night moved onward.

They'd arrived at the little French restaurant in a muggle part of town at least half an hour ago to celebrate Hermione's 26th birthday, he knew it was her favorite, yet ever since they got there she'd been acting...funny. The conversation prior to the appetizers was awkward and forced on her end he noticed. Then she made quite a lengthy production of eating her mussels to avoid speaking. When her lamb chops arrived she seemed all too eager to inhale it in an almost piggish manner he knew she was well above though she did find the time to give him a warm enough smile of appreciation at the course. Hermione had never had a huge appetite, so between the mussels and the lamb before her, she quickly found herself slowing down and Draco noted the way she seemed to grow more and more apprehensive as this opened up the table for further conversation. When she moved to down her third glass of water, he finally had to call attention to the pink elephant in the room.

"Right then, out with it." Draco swiped his cloth napkin across his lips before setting it and his plate of fish aside.

"Out with what?"

He quirked a fine blonde eyebrow at her quick snappish response and folded his arms across his chest. "What's got you worked up? You've barely spoken a dozen words to me all night and we've been here nearly an hour now. What did I do now?"

Hermione huffed, delicately painted fingers swirling nervous circles over the base of her wine glass, still full with the decidedly expensive Merlot Draco had ordered for them to celebrate and pointedly avoided his gaze. "I haven't the slightest what you're referring to. It was just a long week at work last week is all. Crazy happenings and all that rot and you know I have a difficult time shutting it all off when I get home."

Draco examined the lines of her face skeptically: her mouth alternated between a pursing of the lips and pressing into a thin line, her brow furrowed lightly, and her eyes stared intently at the red wine in front of her though her mind was obviously miles away – he didn't buy it for a second. "What a load of shite."

"Draco!" She hissed, appalled at his language in public.

He shrugged. "If you expect me to believe that load of," he saw her eyes narrow in warning, ".._mud_, then you're off your bloody rocker. We've been together for what, four years now? And we hated each other for longer, so what's got your knickers in a wad?"

The range of emotions that flitted across her face would've been amusing if he wasn't dreading her actual answer to his question. Draco watched the shock, irritation, guilt, apprehensiveness, and resignation all flicker through her expressions in mere seconds and the dread from before returned to settle uncomfortably in his belly.

"Draco.."

"Don't '_Draco'_ me, come on with it. It's your birthday and we're supposed to be having a nice little evening for you tonight that you seemed to have been looking forward to all month, couldn't stop talking about how excited you were even...now something is obviously wrong, so what is it?"

Hermione sighed, defeat evident in her features and this only made the bad feeling in him grow – she never gave in that easily. What she said next made all sorts of horrific scenarios come alive in his head:

"I never planned this to happen...don't be mad."

If possible, his complexion paled more than its usual near pallid way rivaling the white blonde of his hair and he gulped audibly. "Mad?"

As visions of his gorgeous wife with a various assortment of any and every male individual he knew or had ever seen her act charming toward flooded his head, he cursed his all too vivid imagination. Immediately, he began replaying every row they'd had in the last couple of weeks that may have led to him mucking everything up and shoving her into the arms of one of her many – too many – male friends that he wasn't too keen on her having in the first place. Hermione didn't cater to jealousy and found it an abysmal trait so he did the best he could muster to keep his more possessive ways in check, but a Malfoy is a Malfoy. She was _**his**_ wife and he had exclusive claim to her! He would kill anyone that touched her, just kill him-

"-co?"

"Huh? Sorry, what?"

Hermione blinked at him, a hand reached across the table to rest soothingly on one of his that had come out of its perch from his crossed arms to clench and wad his napkin in an angry fist. "I asked if you are alright. You're white as a sheet!"

Draco shook his head, releasing the cloth and turning his hand palm up to take hers firmly doing well to keep his voice as steady and reassuring as possible, "I'm fine, now what would I have to be mad about?" She didn't seem to notice just how clammy his hand had become, perhaps it was because hers was equally so – this he _did_ notice and found it increasingly worrying. When she didn't respond right away, eyes darting everywhere but his own again, he half squeezed half tugged her in his grip. "Hermione, what's going on?"

Finally she sighed, dragging her eyes back to him with no small amount of effort. He even saw her steel her shoulders the moment she resolved to spit it out, "Well...you know we've been fighting a bit more than normal lately."

He grimaced, gulping again and gave a single sharp nod, "I did notice that, yeah."

"My emotions have just been running a bit high recently, work has been rough with me getting back into the department and all. Quite frankly, I haven't had the patience to deal with your usual level of snarkiness when I get home every day."

The images of her with her co-workers snapped back in to high definition pictures in his mind. He imagined all of the depraved things they do together on their nastiest of intimate encounters...just with another man. Draco could feel the bile rising in his throat. He knew it! He'd always known it! They did get married rather quickly due to the unfortunate situation of his curse but he'd convinced himself that she really did love him, or at least she'd grown to. Was he just fooling himself all these years? It served him right really...he knew she could do so much better – better than Weasley and even better than him. Granted there wasn't really much better than him, but he knew she deserved the world-

He was shaken out of his overactive daydreaming again by a firm jerk of his arm.

"Draco Malfoy! Are you, or are you not, paying attention? You ask me what's wrong and I'm _trying_ to tell you but you keep getting this ridiculous glazed look about you!"

He sniffed haughtily, immediately offended at the thought that **she** was offended he wasn't giving her his full attention when she was about to relay to him the reality of his made up story of her torrid love affair with her co-worker James...or Terry...or...Ralph or whoever the bloody hell it was that was shagging his wife that wasn't him. "I am! I just don't see why you have to drag it out, is all!"

He completely missed the steadily growing look of ire dawning on her expression, she was doing her best to keep her volume down but it was becoming more difficult by the second. "What are YOU on about now?"

"All I'm saying is you don't have to let me down gently. If you're unhappy with this arrangement, all you have to do is tell me! No sense in making a fool of me in front of everyone at this restaurant!"

If it were possible for her brows to dip any lower on her head, they certainly would have. "What?"

"If you want to go on and boink other blokes, just come out with it!"

There was a stark moment of silence in the restaurant, neither of them having realized that they'd done a piss poor job of keeping their conversation to themselves. It was so quiet one might even have been able to hear the gears in Hermione's head whirring into action as she processed the last few minutes and came to the crystal clear revelation of what her husband had assumed she was trying to say.

Just like that, she leapt up from her chair across from him and snatched up her untouched glass of wine to forcefully empty its contents into her husband's surprised-quickly-turning-to-outraged face. Before he could get another word out, she yelled in exasperation, "I'M PREGNANT YOU BLOODY NITWIT!"

Just like that, Draco's anger and dread drained from every inch of his body, replaced with blatant puzzlement and a cautiously budding excitement and pride. "What? You're what?"

Hermione sighed, eying the red liquid now staining Draco's pale hair and his once pale blue dress shirt and charmingly coordinated tie. "I'm pregnant. I found out for certain this morning."

Pregnant. She wasn't shagging her co-workers. She was bloody pregnant! That explained, at least partly, why she'd been so irritable and tired recently. It wasn't because she was off having lunchtime quickies with anyone other than himself, it was because she was with child! Wait...she was with child...their child...his child-

"I'm going to be a father." The realization dawned on him at long last and he shot up from his seat as well, practically tipping over their table in the process. "Hermione, I'm going to be a father!"

Hermione found herself being lifted into the air and twirled about quite suddenly by an elated Draco Malfoy in a decidedly un-Malfoy-like manner, and in public no less! Despite her anger at him just moments before she smiled brilliantly up at him as she was set upon her feet again, "Yes, Draco, you are!"

If he'd been thinking clearly at all since they walked into the restaurant that evening, he would've realized he probably looked like an insane man but at the moment, he was well beyond caring. Grinning ear to ear, he twirled his wife around once more and swooped in to capture her lips, wrapping her snugly in his arms while he poured all the joy and excitement he felt at the news into the kiss. The two of them were oblivious to the burst of applause and suggestive catcalls of the other dining patrons and spent quite a long time in each other's embrace dripping expensive red wine onto the expensive red carpet. After what seemed like ages, they finally parted, each taking in a much needed and ragged breath.

Draco gazed warmly down at Hermione, a large hand coming up to tuck one of her ever ornery stray curls behind the curve of her ear with no shortage of affection. His thumb brushed across her kiss plumped lips and the apple of her cheek drinking in the smooth planes of her face and beautiful features with an openly loving stare that was usually reserved for private moments. Draco's silver eyes glittered with tenderness and he leaned in again to steal a few more soft kisses before pulling her into a strong hug, his cheek resting atop her curls and dripping wine into it and down her back, though she didn't seem to care.

Hermione shook her head against him but returned his embrace just the same, rubbing a small hand over his back and shooting one of the waiters an apologetic look. "You're such a prat, you know that?"

He chuckled, finally releasing her from his hold and collected both of their jackets from their seats helping her into hers. "I know, I know...come on, let's get home and work on making them some siblings."

Hermione blinked once, twice, her cheeks flushed red and she laughed, smacking him on the arm but allowed herself to be led away anyway. Draco only paused to apologize for the mess and commotion before paying the owner enough to compensate for their tab as well as any damages to the carpet and proceeded to steal her away to a secluded spot where he apparated them back to their house to make good on his proposed plan.


End file.
